The Side Hustle Series – The Truth About Online Surveys
I first heard about taking surveys from a "career influencer" video while scrolling through Instagram. A woman was talking about making up to 60 dollars per survey. It sounded too good to be true, so I didn't think much of it. Over the next few weeks, I kept seeing people talk about it. Videos and posts were all over social media, articles started talking about it, and I started seeing targeted ads for companies that pay for surveys. So many people talked about how easy it was to make money doing surveys from home that I decided to try it. I didn't have high hopes for it. Unfortunately, I was correct. Most of the surveys I was eligible for took about 20-30 minutes and averaged between a few cents and a few dollars apiece.
The biggest issue with this job is how long it takes to start. Before you can be eligible to earn any money taking surveys, you must complete an extensive application answering tons of questions about demographics. This aims to see what surveys they are interested in hearing your opinion about. After investing a few hours and much frustration into finding a survey platform and answering all the questions, I was incredibly disappointed with what was available. Perhaps if someone had a different demographic than me, they would be able to answer a more significant number and more lucrative surveys. However, as a twenty-something white woman, the options were minimal. None of the surveys were profitable when you factor in the cost of your time.
It's not surprising that I didn't make any money on this. While I filled out several surveys, I was never paid. I tried a few websites, some that didn't have anything for me, and somewhere you had to earn a certain amount of money before you could cash out. I was never able to make enough to get my money.
My feelings about this one are entirely negative. I'm sure some people would be possibly able to make money on this if they have a unique enough or profitable enough demographic opinion. However, it was not profitable for me at all. It was a massive waste of time, and I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. I would not recommend this to anyone serious about making money because of the time, cost, and initial investment into setting up a profile.
The Side Hustle Series Articles:
